Citations

Abstract Acute eosinophilic pneumonia is characterized by acute respiratory insufficiency, hypoxemia, fever, diffuse radiographic infiltrates, and eosinophilia in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) or lung biopsies in the absence of infection, atopy, or asthma. A rapid response to corticosteroids is characteristic. We reviewed our experience with nine cases of acute lung disease with histologic features of acute and organizing diffuse alveolar damage and prominent interstitial and alveolar eosinophils in order to determine whether this pathology was characteristic of acute eosinophilic pneumonia. The mean age of the patients (four men and five women) was 53 yr (range: 33 to 71 yr). They presented with 2 to 21 d of dyspnea, cough, myalgias, and fever. All were hypoxic and had bilateral infiltrates on chest radiographs. Peripheral blood eosinophilia was present in four of eight patients (peripheral blood count unavailable for one patient). All patients were treated with high-dose corticosteroids with a mean time to symptomatic and radiographic improvement of 4 d. Seven of the nine patients enrolled in the study are alive without relapse; one patient has a mild deficit in diffusing capacity, and one patient died of a myocardial infarct while improving on therapy. The presence of eosinophils in cases of acute respiratory insufficiency due to diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) should suggest the diagnostic possibility of acute eosinophilic pneumonia. Acute eosinophilic pneumonia should be distinguished from other causes of DAD because of important differences in natural history.

Abstract Psychological stress can lead to asthma exacerbations in some patients. It is our hypothesis that the stress effect can occur through an enhancement of allergic inflammatory response. To investigate this possibility, airway antigen challenge was evaluated in 20 college students with mild asthma during both a low-stress phase (midsemester or two weeks postfinal examination) and a stress phase (final examination week). Subjects completed questionnaires to assess psychological state and underwent inhaled antigen challenge. Sputum samples were collected before challenge, and six and 24 hours and seven days postchallenge. Leukocytes were counted and eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN) was measured in sputum supernates. Sputum cells were cultured and stimulated ex vivo with phytohemagglutinin (10 μ g/ml), and culture supernates were assayed for interleukin-5 (IL-5) and interferon- γ by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Sputum eosinophils and EDN levels significantly increased at six and 24 hours postchallenge and were enhanced during the stress phase (p < 0.01). IL-5 generation by sputum cells was also increased at 24 hours during stress and correlated with airway eosinophils (rs = 0.65, p < 0.05). Students' anxiety and depression scores were significantly higher during the examination period. Our findings suggest that stress associated with final examinations can act as a cofactor to increase eosinophilic airway inflammation to antigen challenge and thus may enhance asthma severity.

Background— The primary role of natriuretic peptide receptor-3 (NPR3) or NPR-C is in the clearance of natriuretic peptides that play an important role in modulating intravascular volume and vascular tone. Genetic variation in NPR3 has been associated with variation in blood pressure and obesity. Despite the importance of NPR3, sequence variation in the gene has not been addressed using DNA from different ethnic populations. We set out to identify and functionally characterize genetic variation in NPR3 in 3 ethnic groups. Methods and Results— DNA samples from 96 European American, 96 African American, and 96 Han Chinese American healthy subjects were used to resequence NPR3 exons, splice junctions, and flanking regions. We identified 105 polymorphisms, 50 of which were novel, including 8 nonsynonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms, 7 were novel. Expression constructs were created for the nonsynonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms. HEK293 cells were transfected with constructs for wild type and variant allozymes; and recombinant proteins were measured by quantitative Western blot analysis. The most significant change in NPR3 protein was observed for the Arg146 variant allozyme, with 20% of wild-type protein, primarily because of autophagy-dependent degradation. NPR3 structural modeling confirmed that the Arg146 variant protein was not compatible with wild-type conformation and could result in protein misfolding or instability. Conclusions— Multiple novel NPR3 genetic polymorphisms were identified in 3 ethnic groups. The Arg146 allozyme displayed a significant decrease in protein quantity because of degradation mediated predominantly by autophagy. This genetic variation could have a significant effect on the metabolism of natriuretic peptides with potential clinical implications.

ICD in Cardiac AmyloidosisBackgroundCardiac amyloidosis (CA) is associated with increased risk of sudden cardiac arrest. Although ICD therapy improves survival in patients with cardiomyopathy due to other etiologies, the benefit of ICD therapy in patients with CA is unclear in large part due to limited data on the precise mechanism of sudden cardiac arrest and selection of patients with cardiac amyloidosis for ICD therapy.ObjectiveThe objective was to determine the benefit of ICD therapy in cardiac amyloidosis.MethodsWe reviewed all ICD implant indications, procedures, and therapies, of CA patients evaluated at Mayo Clinic between 2000 and 2009.ResultsA total of 53 patients with CA (33 AL, 10 senile, 9 familial, and 1 AA) who underwent ICD implantation were included. Indication for ICD implantation was for primary prevention of sudden cardiac arrest in 41 (77%) patients and secondary prevention in 12 (23%) patients. The rate of appropriate ICD shocks was 32% in the first year and was observed almost exclusively in AL amyloidosis patients, occurring in 15 patients (12 AL amyloidosis, 2 senile, 1 AA). Appropriate ICD shocks were more frequent in patients with prior sudden cardiac arrest or sustained ventricular arrhythmias (secondary prevention indication), and less frequent in patients who presented with decreased ejection fraction or syncope.ConclusionsA high rate of appropriate ICD shocks was observed especially in patients with AL‐type amyloidosis. However, appropriate ICD therapy did not translate into overall survival benefit, suggesting that selection of patients with CA who might be candidates for ICD is imprecise.

To clarify the presentation and course of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and amyloidosis. Mayo databases were interrogated for patients who carried a diagnosis of amyloidosis and CLL evaluated at Mayo Clinic, Rochester from January 1974 to October 2012. Charts were abstracted and data analyzed. Of the 33 patients identified, 20 (61%) were diagnosed with AL and 13 (39%) with non‐AL. Only four patients had immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis (AL) that could be solely attributed to the CLL clone; another six had both a plasma cell clone and a CLL clone that shared the same light chain. Median overall survival was 15.6 months for patients with AL and 58.1 months for patients with non‐AL. For patients with AL management involved chemotherapy targeted toward monoclonal plasma cells, lymphocytes or both, and for patients with non‐AL no specific amyloid treatment was administered. AL is a rare complication of CLL, but in this elderly population of patients non‐AL is nearly as common. Distinguishing between these two groups is essential since patients with non‐AL amyloidosis have better outcomes and they do not require cytotoxic chemotherapy to treat their amyloidosis. Am. J. Hematol. 88:375–378, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Objective— Matrix gla protein (MGP) inhibits arterial and cartilaginous calcification. A threonine to alanine (Thr83Ala) polymorphism (codon 83) in MGP is associated with myocardial infarction and femoral artery calcification. We examined the association of the MGP Thr83Ala polymorphism with quantity and progression of coronary artery calcification (CAC), a noninvasive measure of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis. Methods and Results— In 605 participants of the Epidemiology of Coronary Artery Calcification Study, generalized linear mixed models were fit to determine the association of MGP Thr83Ala with CAC quantity and progression. There was a significant additive relation between MGP Thr83Ala and CAC progression ( P =0.001). In the fully adjusted model, every 1 Ala83 allele increase was associated with an estimated 1.9% (95% confidence interval, 0.7%–3.0%) per year since baseline larger increase in CAC quantity. A proxy single nucleotide polymorphism for MGP Thr83Ala (rs6488724) was similarly associated with CAC progression in an independent cohort from the Genetic Epidemiology Network of Arteriopathy (GENOA) study. Conclusion— Increased risk of myocardial infarction associated with MGP ThrAla83 genotype observed elsewhere may be related to faster progression of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis. MGP genotype could be a potential candidate for identifying individuals at increased risk of atherosclerotic disease who would benefit from aggressive primary prevention strategies.